Ideal Isar HE24 Code LE

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Having found this forum whilst googling the HE24 fault code I thought I would check with the learned before buying parts. It seems the Isar boilers have a poor reputation for reliability, mine is no exception.

Over the last couple of weeks the hot water has been cooler than normal with the burner cutting out after a minute or two of use. While I was in the boiler cupboard I noticed the central heating feed pipe was getting hot when the hot tap was on but with no central heating demand.

Today the boiler refused to fire up and the display was showing fault code LE which is PCB failure according to the fault finding section in the book.

I switched the boiler off at the mains to clear the code but when it was switched on again the display is flickering and a faint crackle / fizz can be heard when the mains is on and the boiler switch is in the off or on position. I can't pinpoint exactly where the sound is coming from. Needless to say it is switched off at the mains now.

Would the experts consider it safe to buy and fit a new PCB, or would the heating pipe warming up indicate a diverter valve fault which could have caused the PCB to fail in the first place?

I hope someone more skilled than I can shed a little light on this, £120 plus for a PCB is too strong a gamble for my limited knowledge on the subject.

John
 
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Quite often the pcb is taken out by the fan, but this is usually sudden and complete :eek:

If you have the ch flow getting warm when a hot tap is run, then it does sound as though the DV is stuck mid-position.

You could try removing the DV head and pressing the pin in and out.

If this doesn't work I would suggest calling Ideal in on a fixed price repair of £210, as this will cover the pcb and DV.
 
yes an LE code does require a new PCB but the fizzing/crackling is probably water leaked onto the fused spur of the boiler. It will be this that has caused the pcb to be blown.

disconnect the plug from the boiler (underneath) and then turn the power back on. If the fizzing has stopped then the fault could be water on the electrics within the boiler. You would need to be sure that this is sorted before putting a new pcb in or the same will occur.

It might be best to get Ideal to do this repair for £210. Or you could end up with an even higher bill!!
 
Thanks for the swift replies.

I have taken the front panel off but can see no evidence of a water leak anywhere. I will check again once I can straighten up, I'm getting too old for cramming myself in cupboards!

The boiler is only 4 years old, that's better than many have got out of theirs by what I have read so far.

Will there be any water loss when the diverter valve head is removed? I can have a bowl and towels standing by if so.

Once again thanks for the help chaps

John
 
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Great, thanks for that.

I'm just having a pot of tea then I will go and see what's what with it.

Many thanks

John
 
You will need diverter cartridge not head. LE can also be a faulty earth and a faulty overheat stat. I personally wouldn't touch it bite the bullet and pay ideal 220 and they will repair it.
 
You will need diverter cartridge not head. LE can also be a faulty earth and a faulty overheat stat. I personally wouldn't touch it bite the bullet and pay ideal 220 and they will repair it.

Wow! And I thought that you worked on Ideal boilers!

The fizing may be water leaked from the auto air vent onto the back of the display board. Sometimes just the display board or even just the back to back connector is damaged but other times it takes out the main PCB as its not protected against overloads caused by this fault.

The cynical would say that the main PCB is intentionally not protected within its design so that they sell lots of them!

Tony
 
I think the advise being given is actually in the OP's best interest. A fixed price repair.
 
Aye good one Tony!!! :). I meant from the OPs point of view. I however would have fixed it in a jiffy!!!

:LOL:
 
Thanks for the extra input on this.

I had suspected the overheat stat originally. The water temperature has recently been cooler than usual but the boiler never failed to light. Until I opened the cupboard door that is..........

shambolic, where would I find the earth point or is it earthed through the PCB? I can see a safety ground point behind the pcb / control box when it is dropped forward into the service position but that's about it. Shame you are so far away, you could have popped round.

It's looking like it will have to be a call out, if it kills another pcb because I've missed the real cause I'm onto a loser instantly.

If anything more comes to light I will let you all know.

John
 
Hot news chaps!

I took a look at the spur connector on the bottom of the boiler, it looked ok so I unplugged it and switched on the mains.

The fizzing was still there with the boiler completely out of circuit. Sticking my head into the cupboard it sounded like it was coming from the switch on the wall that feeds the boiler. Off came the faceplate (only held on with one screw and that was slack) and the fizz became louder. I switched off at the consumer board and had a poke about. Once the burnt wire was trimmed back and the terminals tightened up insted of being slack the fizz was no more.

I refitted the pcb and the control panel ready to call out the masked man to hold me to ransom tomorrow and switched it on. The display came up registering "7" and then switched over to "0" with no flickering or carrying on at all.

Turning on the hot tap brought "D", a lovely steady burner light, and hot water from the tap. The heating feed pipe no longer gets hot with a tap running and it responded to the boost button on the heating control box by displaying "C" and heating up the radiator I had my arse wedged against. I didn't think that one through!

In short I think it may well have been spiking from the badly fitted supply wiring but we will see in the fullness of time. If it fails again I will have to call the man, but for the moment it's looking very promising indeed.

You've got to love the internet and the good folks thereabouts. Many thanks for taking the time to advise.

John (Much happier)
 
I refitted the pcb and the control panel ready to call out the masked man to hold me to ransom tomorrow and switched it on.

John (Much happier)

I know that its very difficult to convince Joe Public, but 95% of boiler engineers are totally honest and focussed on repairing boilers at a reasonable cost.

The remaining 5% might sometimes charge a little more than they should but the number of real cowboys must be less than 1%. A few more are rather less competent at repairing boilers and do sometimes charge for more time or replacing parts that are not actually required. Thats not dishonest but just incompetent. I would have thought that its usually pretty obvious from talking to them which are which!

The current market is capped by the fixed price repairs offered by BG and many of the manufacturers.

Tony Glazier
 
Aye sorry about that. flipant is my middle name.

I served my time as a mechanic back in the dark ages, you should see some of the bonus bashing examples I've worked by over the years.

One thing I wish I had taken a photo of is the PCB itself. I opened the plastic housing to look for obviously burnt traces and the like. There are a few largish power transistors on the board with electrolitic capacitors immediately behind them. The transistor legs have all been bent so the unheatsinked tab (the hot bit) is as close as possible to the can of the capacitor. One was fully touching it's capacitor. This will prematurely age the caps and dry them out, built in lifespan reduction! It seems possible the makers are the ones with the masks on.

I've just had the first properly hot bath for a while, the boiler never missed a beat and I'm a very happy bloke. I will replace the wall switch tomorrow as it's been fairly hot and it's better safe than sorry.

Once again many thanks for the advice and fingers crossed for a cheap repair.

John
 
Nice to see its working mate. I have been to so many where someone has just stuck in a pcb without checking external supply!!!

The boiler doesnt like iffy voltages at all!
 

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